


Unraveling

by lividsilk



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Hurt/Comfort (kinda), M/M, Nudity, Unbeta'd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-17 13:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13659642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lividsilk/pseuds/lividsilk
Summary: And those beautiful eyesCan only meet mineAcross a room filled with peopleLess important than you------------A collection of short fics and prompt fills, all Taakitz:Chapter 1: Set some time pre Story and SongChapter 2: AU, set in the Permanence-verseChapters 3 & 4: Post-Canon





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short Twitter prompt for [Wildgoosery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildgoosery/pseuds/Wildgoosery), the original prompt being "Let me live, will you?".
> 
> It kind of got away from me.

"Taako," Kravitz says slowly. "You can't be serious."

"As a heart attack, handsome," Taako lilts, making no move to lower the Umbrastaff pointed at Kravitz's chest, wide stance shielding the crumpled figure of Magnus Burnsides behind him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm _pretty_ sure we can talk this out. But I also have to take precautions, natch. It's really nothing personal."

 _Nothing personal_ , Kravitz thinks, and tries not to think about holding the hand curled tight around the umbrella handle, pointedly does not think about that same white-knuckle grip wrapped around a wrought iron headboard.

He instead holds both of his hands up, palms facing outward in what he hopes is a placating gesture.

"Why do you think I'm here?"

Taako visibly falters at that, his head twitching minutely as he resists the urge to glance backwards at Magnus. The Umbrastaff lowers, hitting the stone floor with a _clack_  that echoes through the cavern.

"I don't know," he says finally. And then, almost as an afterthought, "I can't let you take him."

"I'm not here to take him."

"Then why _are_ you here?"

"I--" And now it's Kravitz who falters, holding Taako's gaze almost desperately, as if the worry in his eyes alone could say it. "You're injured."

"Yeah, no shit." Taako swipes at the sluggish trickle of blood down his temple with the underside of his wrist, smearing crimson onto the cuff of his blouse.

"It's bad, Taako."

"We got separated from Merle, what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Kravitz sighs, nods to Magnus. "Is he stabilized?"

"Best as I can," Taako replies, his brows knitting together. "I have a potion. I just need him to wake up enough to drink it."

"And what about you?" Kravitz asks, a bit too incredulous. The corners of Taako's lips twitch.

"Hey, if I get knocked out, I'm a lot easier to carry than this lug."

"Taako--"

"Listen, I appreciate the concern, _really_ ," he snaps, shoulders falling as his posture loosens, the tip of the Umbrastaff scraping against the floor as he pulls it back and re-hooks it to his bag. "But unless you've got some tricks in that fancy feathered cloak of yours, believe me when I say that I am making the best out of a shitty situation. You think I wanna drag my ass through the rest of this cave with my HP this low?"

Kravitz frowns and takes a step forward, tugging his glove off and extending his right hand. "May I?"

"May--" Taako catches himself on the word, eyes darting to the proffered hand and then back up to Kravitz's face. He nods.

Kravitz easily closes the distance between them, fingertips brushing against Taako's hair as his thumb glides along slick broken skin, knitting the wound together in time to a long-forgotten tempo. He feels more than sees Taako lean into the touch when his thumb smooths over his brow, vanishing the bruise forming above his eye.

"Better?" He asks after a moment, when Taako makes no move to pull away.

"Better," Taako echoes, and something in Kravitz's chest twists _hard_  as he watches the elf's eyes flutter shut. He cups his hand around the back of Taako's neck.

"Can I...?"

"Yeah," Taako breathes, and Kravitz winds his other arm around his waist, pulling him in and reveling in the weight of Taako's head falling to his shoulder as he casts Mass Cure Wounds.

Kravitz closes his eyes as Taako's arms slip between mantle and jacket to wrap around his torso, hands splaying against his back as the spell washes over them. Kravitz presses his cheek against newly-healed skin and breathes in dust and the scent of Taako's shampoo.

He wishes, not for the first time, that he could somehow take him away from all of this.

Maybe, he thinks distantly, they can talk about that. Later. After...everything else.

"Okay, what the _fuck?!_ "

Kravitz's eyes snap open to meet the baffled and incredulous glare of Magnus Burnsides, now very much awake and very much sitting up. Kravitz feels Taako swear against his neck, shoving him away and whirling around as Kravitz takes a halting step back, his stomach sinking like a rock as he realizes what has happened.

He completely forgot that Mass Cure Wounds has a 60 foot range.

"Taako, what the hell, is that--?!" Magnus sputters, right as Taako whips his head back to Kravitz and snaps, "Thanks, you can _go now!_ "

"Right," Kravitz stammers, falling into his work accent as he takes another step back. "Right, right, I'll just--"

" _Now_  would be--"

Kravitz doesn't manage to catch the end of Taako's sentence before he slips through the fastest rift he has ever conjured, closing it just as fast and letting out a shaky breath as he leans heavily against his desk.

He tries to think of all the unspoken rules he just broke, the risk he just took, the verbal lashing he is sure to get from Taako the next time they see each other.

But all he can think is:

_Worth it._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short Twitter prompt for [adelaide_rain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adelaide_rain/pseuds/adelaide_rain), set in the same AU as her fic [Permanence!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11351088) I love her worldbuilding and I was so happy to be able to write something for it.

"I don't have to stay."

Taako frowns, leaning heavy against the doorframe as his eyes dart to the side and then back to Kravitz, still dressed in his work clothes and holding a bulging paper bag.

"I know you're alone this weekend," Kravitz continues, and Taako _hates_ how cautious he sounds. "And...you can never decide between the wonton or egg drop, so I got both." He offers the bag to Taako with a smile that's just a touch too bright, betraying some of the anxiety brimming below the surface.

And Taako...well, it's not like he feels _guilty_ over canceling their date-- he feels like hell and he's sure he looks it too-- but he's never considered this side of the equation before. Because of course his boyfriend would want to take care of him when he's sick, that's what boyfriends _do,_ but Taako's never been particularly easy to take care of, even when he's not cranky with a sore throat and doped up on DayQuil.

Taako can take care of his own shit, _for sure_ , that's rule numero uno of his personal manifesto.

He bites his lip and thinks about how fucking lucky this dork is that rule numero dos is to never turn down free food.

"It's cool," he mutters, reaching out and taking the bag, stepping aside and pushing the door open with his shoulder. "Hope you like movies about fuckin' fish and Kleenex, 'cause that's the extent of my plans for tonight."

Kravitz's grin turns almost _radiant_ as he steps past the threshold, closing the door and placing a hand on the back of Taako's head, pulling him in to kiss his forehead. His cool lips move to each of Taako's cheeks, and by the time he works his way up to his ear, Taako's twisting out of his grasp with an impatient huff.

"Okay, okay, _enough_ , unless you wanna get this too," he admonishes, tone not nearly exasperated enough as he makes his way back to the couch, by now a veritable nest of blankets and magazines and tissue boxes.

"I don't want that, but I do want you to clarify one thing." Kravitz pauses to line his shoes by the door, incorrible nerd that he is. "Are we watching Finding Nemo or The Shape of Water, because 'fucking fish' is very ambiguous, and I'd like to know what I'm in for."

"Too fuckin' bad, you bought the ticket, you're along for the ride." Taako is already ripping the paper bag open, frowning when he sees the contents.

"Neither of these are vegetarian," he complains, because it really is just wonton noodles and egg drop soup, both very much made with chicken broth.

"I didn't really plan on eating with you." Kravitz takes a seat next to Taako, who makes a great show of sighing dramatically and flopping his legs over the other man's lap.

"Dumb. That's so _dumb."_  He fishes his phone out of his hoodie, shoving it into Kravitz's hand. "Use my GrubHub account, I've got meal credits."

"Sure.” Kravitz glances down at the phone in his hand. “Hey, come here."

"What--"

And Kravitz is leaning over and kissing him before he can say anything else, full on the lips, and he's gonna get sick but fuck it, he's already here and Taako's been doing nothing but wallowing in his own germs _anyway_ \--

Kravitz sighs as Taako kisses him back, a happy, soft sound that shouldn't make his heart flip like it does.

And yet.

"You're gonna catch my cold," Taako mutters against his lips, not quite ready to pull away just yet.

"I touched your phone, I was already doomed," Kravitz says, and kisses his cheek. "Thank you for letting me in."

Taako feels heat flare under his cheeks, sharp and sudden, and leans back against the arm of the couch with a frustrated huff. "Fine, it's whatever, it's your own funeral. Turn Netflix on so we can watch the movie already."

Kravitz smiles and pauses and holds his gaze a little _too_ long, and Taako's about to make another snarky comment when he looks away to pick up the remote, flicking through the options.

"You never told me if we were watching--"

"I don't care." Taako hunches down even further into his hoodie. "You pick."

"If it's my choice, we're picking up where we left off on our Vincent Price marathon." Kravitz glances at him out of the corner of his eye. "That okay?"

"...Yeah," Taako says, surprised to find that he's not just talking about the movie. "More than okay."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [ltdominic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ltdominic/pseuds/ltdominic), a sweetheart of the highest order.

“Okay.” Taako gestures at the cards arranged in four neat piles on top of the mattress. “What’s the running count?”

Across from him, cross legged and buck naked, Kravitz frowns. “Plus two.”

“Zero.”

“ _Zero?!_ ”

“Zero, my man. Check it.” Taako points to each pile in turn. “Plus two, zero, negative one, negative one.”

"Why wouldn’t the negatives cancel?”

Taako bites back a sigh and rakes a hand through messy, sex-tousled hair.

“Baby, this is card counting, not-- not fuckin’ _practical mathematics,_ I can’t believe you don’t--” He cuts himself off with a shake of his head, waving a hand in Kravitz’s face. “Okay, no, never mind, that’s a conversation for later. Look at your cards, the count is zero, what do you do?”

Kravitz frowns, his eyes darting back down.

“...Stand.”

“ _Mmmmgpphh!_ ” Taako pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Hit?” Kravitz tries again, weakly.

“You are _so bad at this.”_ Taako lets both hands flop down to the mattress, sending a good portion of the ‘shoe’ scattering against their legs. “Kravitz. Darling. Light of my fucking life. How are you so bad at this? Wasn’t this, like, a goddamn  _job requirement_ or something?!”

There’s a three of hearts tucked halfway under Taako’s bare thigh, right by a hickey Kravitz doesn’t remember leaving earlier. He clears his throat.

“Card counting is cheating,” Kravitz says smoothly, as if this whole act were just a pleasant ride he was allowing himself to be taken on. “As an emissary of The Raven Queen, I have a duty to be fair in all of my--”

“ _Ohhh my gooooood,”_ Taako drawls, throwing his arms out and pitching backwards onto the duvet. “Let’s not get too high and mighty here, you just lost _two thousand gold_ in a casino last week--”

“--Two thousand of _my_ gold--”

“ _\--And_ you owe Lup fifteen guard shifts because of it.” Taako lifts his head up just enough to look at Kravitz. “So guess who really suffers here? Guess who’s gonna be takin’ the brunt of your series of poor decisions? Me. It’s me, Taako.”

“Behold, the face of tragedy,” Kravitz deadpans.

“Behold, tragedy’s new boyfriend,” Taako snaps, raising his left hand and wiggling his fingers. Kravitz can't help but laugh, drawing a self-satisfied smirk from Taako before his head falls to the duvet. His left arm is next, landing haphazard above his head with a muted _fwump_ , and Taako’s foot presses into the soft of Kravitz’s stomach as he stretches and yawns.

“This was stupid,” Taako finally mutters. “There’s cards everywhere, now.”

“It was _your_ idea,” Kravitz says, hands palming at Taako’s knees before sliding up. “And you don’t have bad ideas, if I recall correctly.”

“Hero worship is dangerous, darling,” comes the murmured answer, and Kravitz watches Taako’s eyes flutter shut as his thumbs rub slow circles against his inner thighs.

“Mm. How about regular worship, then?”

Taako bites his lip and draws in a soft, barely-there breath.

“M’listening.”

“You know, since I have a new boyfriend to compete with now.” Kravitz’s fingers trace the lines where hip joins thigh, and he feels Taako shiver under the touch. “Maybe I can give you a little something to remember me by while I’m gone.”

The catch of Taako’s lower lip in his teeth isn’t enough to keep the smile from his face; he cracks an eye open to look up at Kravitz, coquettish and inviting.

“I’m sore. We can’t fuck again.”

A beat, and then Kravitz raises his right hand and wiggles his fingers.

“I was thinking we could make it a foursome.”

Taako bursts out laughing, rolling onto his side and sending a spray of cards tumbling off the bed. Kravitz follows him down and catches Taako around his waist, shifting his weight so Taako is sprawled on top of him. Kravitz presses a kiss to Taako's cheek as he muffles a decidedly un-sexy snort of laughter into Kravitz’s collarbone.

“Card counting is dumb,” Kravitz declares, once Taako falls silent.

“I don’t have dumb ideas.”

“You don’t have _bad_ ideas, you never said anything about--”

“Kravitz.” Taako pushes himself up onto his elbows, his gaze half-lidded, a couple strands of hair sticking to his lower lip. “Shut up, kiss me, and don’t ever make stupid bets for guard duty with my sister again.”

Kravitz hums in agreement, reaching up to tangle a hand in Taako’s hair. “I can do all of those things.”

“You’d better,” Taako murmurs, letting himself be pulled down into a heated kiss.

And he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Come find me on Twitter @silkrumi.


	4. Chapter 4

It's a book.

That much is obvious through the neat linen wrapping, crisscrossed by smooth grosgrain ribbon that bears the name of a famous bookstore in Waterdeep.

It's heavy, thick, and very well-made, if the metal-mitered corners he can feel through the fabric are any indication.

It must have been expensive, and it must have taken time to bind, which means it's not just _something I saw and thought you'd like,_ as Kravitz claimed. This was carefully planned out. This was _premeditated._

And Taako has no idea what the fuck it's for.

Their anniversary was four months ago. Taako has yet to decide if he is going to start celebrating his birthday again, but that would be three months from now, anyway. No one gives gifts for the autumnal equinox-- unless they _did,_ Taako thinks with a start, unless this is some sort of hold-over from whatever long-dead culture Kravitz came from.

Speaking of.

Kravitz has long since left the kitchen for their bedroom-- he's one of the infuriating type that hold full confidence in their gift-giving abilities, and hovering is simply not something he does. Enough time has passed that Taako will look ridiculous if Kravitz comes back in to find him still holding an unwrapped book.

He tugs at the small bow in the center, depositing ribbon and wrapping into a neat pile on the table as he sits, curiosity piquing hard as he takes in the gilded words across the front: _The Alchemy of Flavor: A Compendium._

The padded leather cover gives a satisfying _crack_ as he flips to the table of contents, eyes widening as he skims down, a small thrill shooting through him as he thumbs to the next page.

The book is an odd intersection of cooking, analysis, and components; it contains an exhaustive list of every known vegetable and spice on Faerun, common flavor profile pairings, detailed breakdowns as to why those particular flavor profiles work, and an entire section dedicated to matching vegetable to spice to chef's intent. There's even a hefty chapter dedicated to spiced and savory fruits.

It's fucking _perfect._

He's so engrossed in a pages-long analytical breakdown of pumpkin and rosemary that he almost doesn't hear the soft _click_ of their bedroom door closing. He starts, a knot of guilt forming behind his chest that grows heavier with each soft footfall towards the kitchen.

What the _fuck_ did he forget?!

He pushes back from the table to intercept Kravitz right as he steps into the kitchen, winding his arms around his waist and kissing a favored spot on his jawline.

"My birthday's not for another three months, bubeleh," he teases, even as his heart kicks up a nervous rhythm. Kravitz merely hums in acknowledgment, pressing a kiss to Taako's forehead before untangling himself from his arms.

"It's not for your birthday-- and you say that, but you still haven't told me the proper date," Kravitz says, pulling a cabinet open and reaching for a heavy glass jar. Taako almost immediately nudges him out of the way with his hip.

"Here, let me," he says, pulling down a mug and a tea strainer. "And not that I don't appreciate the thought, but that binding looks pretty fuckin’ pristine for something you just ‘saw and picked up’." Taako lifts the tea kettle and, finding it sufficiently full from this morning, sets it back down on the iron teeth of the burner and ignites the flame with a snap of his fingers.

"I didn't lie," Kravitz says, and pauses. "But I suppose I did order it. I came across a floor copy when I went to have a little chat with the manager of a particular section of that bookstore, and I may have scheduled my follow-up visit for the day they told me the cover would be ready." He glances over at Taako, a sheepish smile on his face. "I suppose the first page gave it away?"

That knot of guilt returns full force, and Taako clears his throat to banish the tightness lodged there. "Uh, I kinda-- look, I saw--" He clears his throat again, yanking the lid off of the jar of tea with more force than necessary. "Saw a section on pumpkin, and I had to make sure this author was legit so I had to see if she was dunkin' on pumpkin and rosemary and she's _not,_ so that's great, but I got kinda carried away and I haven't really..."

Kravitz's hand on the small of his back halts his rambling, but his cheeks _burn_ at the thought of what he might find on that first page.

"You don't have to look right now," Kravitz says, his voice careful. "It's just something I saw and thought--"

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but it's _not,"_ Taako bursts out, his stomach clenching uncomfortably. "You had to plan this shit, you wrote out a-- this, this isn't just a thing you can toss at me out of nowhere, you know?"

By the look on his face, Kravitz does not know.

"Do you...not like it?" He asks, and Taako forces back a wince at his hesitation.

"No, baby, I love it," Taako says, his voice strained. "I fucking love it, and that's-- that's the _problem?_ Maybe? It's great, it's fucking fantastic, and I don't know why you gave it to me. Did I miss something? Is there some weird pseudo-holiday I don't know about?"

"What? Taako, I just wanted to give you a gift. I've given you just-because gifts before."

"Okay, yeah," Taako concedes, "but those were usually bullshit."

A bemused expression crosses Kravitz's face, his gaze flicking to the sapphire earrings hanging from Taako's ears; not the first just-because gift, but easily the most expensive.

"Okay, _okay,"_ Taako says, his voice rising slightly. "Not bullshit, just-- I mean, come on, Krav. Any old asshole can get jewelry, it's not hard! It's not--" he gestures vaguely in the direction of the table, to a book so perfectly curated to _him_ that it's almost painful. "It's not that."

Kravitz falls quiet, and Taako's two seconds from emphasizing how much jewelry _isn't_ bullshit when he loops his other arm around Taako's waist and pulls him in close.

"I'm glad you like the book," Kravitz says quietly, tucking a strand of hair behind Taako's ear. He thumbs briefly at a sapphire earring before his index finger curls under Taako's chin, tipping his face up. "I got it because I thought you might like it, and because I like seeing you happy. As far as I'm concerned, that's reason enough. And also," he continues, a smirk tugging at his lips, "because when we first met, you said you were from ‘the north’, but you didn't know that clawbite was a spice and not a sex thing."

"You _promised_ not to fuckin' bring that up again," Taako hisses, feeling his face flush bright red. "Oh, and also, fuck you, because people who add shit like that just for spiciness without any consideration for taste are assholes, so how would I know what _clawbite_ is? I have _taste,_ thank you very much, and are you going to fucking kiss me or what?!"

Kravitz laughs, sharp and bright, and Taako decides he's done waiting; a single hand on the back of his head is enough to close the distance between them, Kravitz's hands splaying broad and _warm_ against his back as they kiss. Taako buries his fingertips in Kravitz's hair and sighs, determined to not think about how much of himself Kravitz must hold on to, to know him so painfully well.

The scream of the kettle pierces the air, and Taako reluctantly breaks the kiss.

The rest of the afternoon passes slow and comfortable at the kitchen table; Taako finds himself taking idle notes on different types of mint, creating a meandering flowchart with **EGGPLANT** scribbled at the top, and a bare-bones list of possible flavors to incorporate into the next family dinner. Kravitz stands up from the table as the sun touches the horizon, knowing Taako prefers an empty kitchen while he prepares meals, and drops a wordless kiss to the top of Taako's head as he passes.

A door opens and closes somewhere in the house before Taako moves again, bookmarking his current location and sliding the end of his pen between the cover and first page.

He hesitates.  
  
Kravitz didn't bring up the inscription after that first mention. All afternoon, Taako could feel the quiet glances Kravitz tossed his way in between chapters of his own book, but they didn't feel heavy with expectation or anticipation. They felt light and gentle, as soft as the smile on Kravitz's face that Taako caught when he happened to look up at the same time.  
  
Taako tries not to think about how those quick glances create something inside Kravitz's heart, an image of Taako that he can't see or control. He tries not to think about what would happen if the person Kravitz thinks he is, the person he pieces together between stolen glances and stolen kisses, may not match who Taako actually is. He tries not to think about how badly this scares him.  
  
He thinks, instead, about how much he wants to be that person.  
  
He flips to the first page with a nudge of his pen.  
  
He feels his throat tighten as his eyes dash over the words, warmth blooming across his cheeks as his heart flutters. It only lasts a moment, but he stands from the table as soon as it passes, heading in the direction of a closed door and leaving teal letters shimmering in the low light of the kitchen:  
  
_To Taako,_ __  
__  
_With all my love._ __  
  
_\--Kravitz_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come find me over on Twitter @silkrumi.


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